


Baby Carrots & Crayons

by sirnando



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-22
Updated: 2016-02-22
Packaged: 2018-05-22 13:02:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6080391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sirnando/pseuds/sirnando
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cristiano loves taking Junior to school more than he expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baby Carrots & Crayons

**Author's Note:**

> i finally did cris has a crush on teacher james yay

Cristiano didn’t expect much when Jr. started kindergarten. Yeah they’d have to wake up, but they always had to wake up early. Yeah he would have to make lunches, but lunches were fun. Baby carrots and tiny celery and little crackers and triangle sandwiches a little bigger than his pinky. So yeah, it was an experience and Junior was “growing up too fast” according to his mom and every other parental magazine he opened up, but it was ok. He’d also get more free time (which seemed horrible to think) and free time was never a bad thing. Or at least not in his experience.

So on Junior’s first day of school he shook him up and helped him button his shirt, watched him brush his teeth (he loved forgetting), made little waffles with strawberries on top and gelled his hair. And Junior’s hair (he’d asked since he was full grown now).

He drove him to school, had Junior grab his hand, then grab it tighter as they got closer. Forgot to grab his backpack. Went back to the car and Junior grabbed his hand even tighter. Walked into the school, got lost in the school, finally found the room and Cristiano lowered himself down to eye level with his son to tell him he’d be ok, it was something everyone did and he’d be waiting for him outside the door after school.

He got up, Junior let go of his hand, but didn’t leave his side and Cristiano contemplated taking him home (maybe this wasn’t as good as he had imagined it would be), but he heard some guy, teacher probably, walk up behind them and ask Junior if he wanted to come over with him. So out of politeness Cristiano turned to him to introduce himself and Junior, because it was the nice thing to do and -

Oh.

~

Oh. He said it out loud which was more embarrassing than he had hoped for, but it happened and he couldn’t retract the oh now.

Teacher laughed. Then smiled. Cristiano smiled back and held his hand out, Junior watched from down below.

“James Rodriguez. Spelled like James pronounced like Hames. Nice to meet you.” he grabbed Cristiano’s hand, one shake, let go, but Cris had accidentally left his hand dangling there for a little longer than the handshake.

“I’m Cristiano. Ronaldo. Spelled like Cristiano pronounced like Cristiano.” James laughed again and shook his head.

“ And your son?”

“Cristiano Ronaldo. Junior that is. You can just call him Junior though. Everyone calls him that. Besides me. Not important. Junior. Or Cristianinho which is similar, but whichever you prefer.” He smiled again (hadn’t stopped smiling actually) and James nodded (again).

“Ok, well, we end at 1:30. You can pick him up from the back door. Unless you’re making him take the bus?”

Cristiano shook his head. “No, no way. Too many germs. I’ll be here though.” he kneeled down to Junior who was holding James’ hand now and kissed his cheek. “Have fun, yeah?” He hugged him, got up. “Alright, well thanks.” he looked to James. And James? Nodded. And Cristiano decided it was time to leave now.

~

And he was there. At 1:00 waiting for Junior while the sun ate at his back, but it was worth it. Everything was worth it for his son. 

“How was it?” he got a smile and a paragraph answer about their crayons and their seats on the carpet and how cool ‘Mr. R’ was. Cristiano nodded, smiled, patted his head and after he got it out of his system he said he had a few minutes to play with his new friends. Junior didn’t ask why.

‘Was he good?” James was ending a conversation with other parents, pushing chairs in, collecting markers.

“Junior?” James turned to him, snapping a cap back on. “You’re kidding. He’s an angel. Shy at first, but he found some friends throughout the day.”

Cristiano smiled back and mumbled thanks. James mirrored the smile. Cris kept standing there (he had things to say, but decided maybe he shouldn’t say them) and James was too polite to say anything about the awkward standing-staring they were having.

“I think I’ll go.” Cristiano finally said.

“Alright.” He walked Cristiano to the door.

“Oh yeah. Do they have homework?”

James laughed. “It’s preschool Mr. Ronaldo. Nothing besides coloring.”

And Cristiano left making a mental note he needed to tell James to call him Cris. (And maybe call him Mr. Rodriguez before James said it was ok to call him James).

~

He didn’t stand as long the next day after school. James had crayons in his hand this time and he broke one. 

But Cris didn’t stay as long because Junior ran in, tugged at his dad and mumbled that he had to pee really bad. So Cristiano said goodbye, grabbed his backpack and they rushed over to the nearest bathroom.

James tried taping the crayon and then decided it was no use anyways.

~

On the third day he asked James if he recommended any specific books that he could start reading with Junior.

“Well,” James started, colored pencils in his hand “reading whole books is more first grade. You can read to him if you want, show him the book and have him practice, but you don’t need to do anything crazy. But small books, big font, small sentences.”

And Cristiano nodded. Made his mental note.

“You’re a very good dad, Mr. Ronaldo. All the kids are fascinated with the lunches you make Junior.”

“Cris.” it was time.

“Oh, well, Cris. Feel free to call me James.” he smiled.

“Ok James.” Awkward, once again, but James had started getting used to it. “It’s nothing that big. I just want him to have as much fun as possible.” And at that he decided it was time to end their little standing session.

~

By the eighth day, it became normal for Cristiano to stay back and push in chairs, recycle paper, clean desks.

“You know, you don’t have to.” James would always say, but Cristiano shook his head and insisted.

“One man against millions of marker stains is never going to turn out well.”

And by the twelfth day, once again in the bathroom with Junior, Junior asked why he his dad always let him play after school. Didn’t he have things to do?

And Cristiano only then really admitted to himself that maybe he was staying longer more out of his personal ‘crush’ reasoning than his good heart.

But James was cute, so it was ok.

~

Cristiano was a funny guy, James concluded on the sixteenth day. Both humorous funny and just funny because he decided it was better to hang out and pick up dirty tissues off the floor than go home right away. He hadn’t been teaching for that long, but he’d never met someone that interested in cleaning.

He reminded him every day that it wasn’t needed. But no, nope, no thank you: he would stay right here.

So, ok. Not that James was complaining.

~

On the twenty-first day, Cristiano asked James about his opinion on homeschooling.

James looked confused. “Homeschooling?”

“Yeah.”

“Why? Did you consider?”

“Sometimes. Because it’s weird not having him around all day.”

James nodded along (he nodded so much) and shrugged at the end. “Oh. Well, I don’t know of many kids who are homeschooled, but you’d need the proper qualifications. It takes a while. But if it’s what you really want to do then I can’t stop you, but he’s been doing well.”

“I mean, I probably wouldn’t knowing he has more friends here and all, whereas at home he only has me and our dogs.”

“No mother?”

“Nope.”

“Oh.” James smiled lightly, stacked some papers. He wasn’t going to ask but-

“He wasn’t an accident if that’s the question. It’s a little bit complicated.”

“It’s ok, I wasn’t assuming. Divorces happen a lot.”

“Not a divorce.”

“Oh.” he bit his lip, not sure of how to respond. Great? Nice? Oh, I’m glad?

But Junior saved them again. Something other than pee this time. 

~

Maybe Cristiano hadn’t nailed his hint in their conversation, he thought while waiting for Junior, but at least James was aware now. Out in the open.

He liked James. Maybe more than he liked admitting to himself. And he didn’t know if it was allowed (teacher student weren’t allowed but parent of the student was never mentioned, not that he heard of), but no one ever said it would work. (He hoped it would work, at least for an hour).

~

Cristiano took Junior to school every day. Even when he was running late and it would’ve been easier to have his mom take Junior, he took him. If he was late to work? Whatever. They’d would get over it eventually.

A month and a half into school and no more mentions of moms or divorces or (surprisingly) no more awkward standing-staring sessions, because it had become custom for Cris to walk in after school, for Junior to run off immediately after kissing his dad and normal for James to start listing what needed to be Clorox-wiped and put away.

And James stopped telling Cristiano to leave, not worry, stop coming after school. First off, it was no use, he’d learned that. Second of all, it was nice having company. Not the greedy “I won’t have to clean myself anymore” company, but the genuine “I really like this Ronaldo guy” type of company. So he actively waited for Cristiano to come in, sometimes he brought coffee, sometimes he brought tea and he always had something to say.

So by the end of two months, James knew the names of all five of his dogs, his favorite color, why he decided to have a son, the stresses of having a son, the positives of having a son, where he was born, where he’d traveled to and knew all about the irritated looks people gave him at work and how it was funny because he knew he was too valuable to fire.

Cristiano on the other hand found out about James’ five dogs, his favorite food, why he didn’t have kids (nor a girlfriend), why he wanted to be a teacher and positive reactions he’d been getting from all parents he’s met (besides this one dad) as well as all the places he hadn’t been, but really wished he could have.

And about two months and six days, when Cristiano was sick and he actually could not drive Junior to school, James found himself wanting to ask Junior if he was ok.

Found himself asking in the end and he got a “he’s throwing up a lot” answer. But James couldn’t say he didn’t miss his coffee and life stories.

~

Cris apologized (apologized?) for not being able to come the time after when he came.

“You were sick. Not a big deal, really.”

“Junior said you asked? That was nice.”

That was the first time James turned red in front of Cristiano.

~

Three months in James decided that, yeah, Junior’s dad was cute. Really cute. The ‘looks intimidating with his earrings but is a dork’ kind of guy and James liked him. Liked the awkward stands they used to have. Liked that he could tell Cristiano was about to burst out with something every time he stepped in, but held himself back. Liked that he came for Junior every afternoon an hour early (he could see him through the window), walked him all the way to class in the morning and he liked that he spent so much time making Junior’s lunch as colorful and interesting as possible. But most of all James liked that Cristiano seemed to like him back.

But was he going to do something about it? No. It would be even cuter to keep watching him try.

~

“You know, I read somewhere on this parent’s forum yesterday that making cute lunches for kids makes their learning experience better.”

James didn’t know if he wanted to comment on the fact that he was reading forums or the lunch. “Not surprised. Fun things in life make you happier.”

“Do you perhaps teach grades other than kindergarten?” it slipped out a little. He didn’t want to sound creepy.

James stopped what he was doing and smiled. “I can teach preschool. Nothing above that unless I’m an assistant.”

“Does it take a lot to move to the next level?” He received a shrug. 

“Never looked into it, I like my age group.” He didn’t get any response. “We may need some more coffee next week. It’s the week before Christmas so we’re going to be using a lot of sparkles.”

“Only a week left?”

“Before our two weeks off? Yeah. Aren’t you relieved?” 

No, Cristiano wasn’t but he agreed reluctantly and James was a little bit happy that he had gotten that response.

~

It was a mess. A big one. Sometimes even Junior helped out, because it was a little too cold outside now.

The last day before break, Cristiano got James’ number. “For questions, or whatever.” Second time James got red in front of him.

Cristiano smiled widely. “Yeah. I’ll make sure I have some.” And they returned to their awkward standing-staring, except this time minus the awkward and insert nice. For both of them.

~

It was a long two weeks. Cristiano woke up every morning trying to think of some question to send James. James woke every morning waiting for a question to be answered.

He came up with one. Asked if he knew of any juice box brands that had more fruit rather than sugar in them and James politely reminded him he was a teacher not a nutritionist.

Plus Cris already knew, of course he knew, he had a whole cupboard full of them. There was never anything inorganic or unnatural in his house. But at least he had gotten the conversation going.

~

When they saw one another after break Monday morning, Cristiano found himself being excited and James found himself being even more excited than he had expected. Junior talked about all the gifts he’d gotten, ran off with his new backpack and lunchbox to show everyone else already in class.

“Good two weeks?” James asked. Cristiano shrugged.

“Yeah, they were nice. Could be better.”

“How come?” He hoped he would hear ‘because of you’ but this wasn’t some romantic comedy. 

Cristiano came close though. “Could have more of some people in it.” ‘Intimidating earring guy who loved being dramatic’. James’ favorite.

“Well I guess mine could have been little better then as well.”

~

Four months and four days in, James found out it was Cristiano’s birthday soon.

“How will you celebrate?”

“I don’t know. Go out to eat to some proper restaurant that doesn’t feed my son chemicals.”

“Good luck then.”

“Oh I have a list.” And James wasn’t surprised.

Cristiano closed his box of crayons, walked over to the closet James was putting his boxes in. James turned around quickly, ran into Cristiano’s chest.

“Oh, sorry.” he mumbled, third time he’d gotten red and Cris didn’t offer a response. Kind of just - stared at James who looked up to him.

“Um,” James started. He could feel Cristiano breathing into his face, his body pressing into his. “good thing this closet is in a corner, huh.” he smile-laughed, so did Cristiano and then leaned in and pressed his lips to James’ and -

Junior walked in.

One time he did not save them.

~

For the second they had kissed (could you call it kissing?), James felt nice. Very nice. Very, very nice and he felt very, very, not nice when Cristiano pulled away and spun around to his son, straightening his shirt out.

Maybe he should put more things in the closet more often.

~

It was nice. Cristiano thought so too. And he wasn’t mad at Junior for coming in. Kids had small bladders and it wasn’t his fault.

A slightly larger bladder would of course, in that moment, have been much better, but what happened, happened.

~

Cristiano didn’t kiss him the next time they saw one another. James found himself disappointed.

Yes, Cristiano came earlier in the morning and James pulled him out to his car to get supplies (he left another teacher with the kids, not irresponsible). And yes, Cristiano touched his waist and his hands and his chest, but no, no kisses.

And after school when James went over the closet twenty times more than he actually had to, Cristiano followed but he never had the chance to run into his chest anymore. So he was a little irritated, a little angry and not thirsty so his coffee lay untouched on the table. Cold and sad.

Kind of like him. (Because James didn’t just like dramatic people).

~

Day 2 of almost kissing not really kissing went similarly. Nothing. Touching yeah. And touching was nice, touching was great, but it wasn’t kissing.

Day 3 James started talking less to Cristiano. It had reached a point in their relationship (in terms of friends etc.) that the silent treatment could be used without the other being confused.

Cristiano was confused. But not because of their relationship status, but because Cristiano just got confused a lot.

Day 4 James didn’t drink his tea nor his coffee nor his hot chocolate (Cristiano had brought all three since he noticed James wasn’t touching them, so maybe he wanted a change). Obviously not.

And day 5 which was Cristiano’s birthday. So James felt compelled to give him something so he kissed Cristiano himself, because you could only wait so long.

It was by the closet again. James turned around quickly, felt Cristiano behind him. Cristiano moved aside for him like the nice guy was and James not-so-nicely pulled him back in front and kissed him. Junior didn’t come in this time. It lasted for longer than a second. It was nice (more than nice) and Cristiano pulled away wide-eyed. 

“Tongue?”

James shrugged. “Happy birthday.”

 

~

Cristiano was glad he’d established normal routines the previous five months because it wasn’t suspicious when he stayed after school now and helped out. What was maybe a little suspicious was that they didn’t get as much cleaning done as they used to, but it wasn’t like people cared about the level of cleanliness the teacher was left with.

Another thing a little suspicious: James always had something in his car in the morning and someone was always asked to stay and watch. And it was always Cristiano who volunteered to bring one box back, even when happy dads offered their help. 

But James coming over with his five dogs for dinner or every day during break wasn’t. Junior even liked it, more words to learn, more numbers to add. 

And really, Cristiano worried that it would take longer than five months to get James, so he started thinking of ways to make the time he did have worth it, but James hated taking long (not that Cristiano complained).


End file.
